Best Practices for Medical Receptionists in the Digital Age

Healthcare as well as most industries have had to grow with new technology.  Medical Receptionists through the years have seen their practices and facilities adopt new systems and processes to keep current.  While we can train on all of these systems and processes, we can never forget that they are not perfect.  What technology does not do still needs to be appropriately managed by a human.  We will look at ways that Medical Receptionists can make sure they are contributing to the overall accuracy and experience within their office.

Demographic and registration information is usually a primary responsibility of the front office staff.  Most of us have had the experience of online registration and even uploading your own documentation or insurance card.  However, there are times when you are able to skip certain questions or the system allows you to submit before completing everything that is required by the office.  Our patients experience the same.  It is your responsibility to make sure that the information manually typed or pulled from a scan matches the insurance card or that the patients address is verifiable and accurate. We can not fully depend on these systems or the person entering information to get it right every time.  Most offices will confirm your information once you arrive.  Asking “Is everything the same?” will not help discover any issues with incorrectly entered information. Long term patients who have had the same information for years may actually have a change this time.  New patients may have left out a few sections that still need to be completed. Your patient may have had a phone, email, emergency contact, or release of information change.  It is your job to review and confirm information is entered, uploaded, and recorded correctly by verifying when the patient arrives.  This allows for errors to be discovered early and will take less time to correct now rather than later when a claim denies, when they need to be contacted about results, or even in the event of an emergency.  

Medical Receptionists often have the responsibility of managing the waiting area.  When you get used to being so hands off and communication with patients overall is reduced it is easy to forget to take the time to actual speak to people.  Let your patients know if anything has changed that day, if there is a long wait, or if any equipment or system is down delaying their appointment. It is a professional and courteous gesture.  One way to use technology to your advantage is alerting patients ahead of time. Most of today’s EMR systems will allow you to send text and voice calls immediately.  If a provider has been behind majority of the day, why not let them know ahead of time or delay their arrival so they can also plan accordingly.  If you do not have a system with such capabilities picking up the phone and making a quick courtesy call will suffice, especially if the wait exceeds what is normal for your office.   

Medical Receptionists often accept payments at time of service including copays and past balances.  If your patient states they have not received a bill you should be able to see when the statement went out,  that is another great opportunity to verify that their address is correct.  If they are not in position to pay, provide them with another copy of the statement in-person and make a note on account or advise them of next steps depending on their situation.  We are focused on technology today, therefore, if the patient questions the accuracy of the balance you can either review to the best of your ability and explain.  If you can not explain why the balance is what it is, make sure to direct them to your billing department to discuss.  Errors can be made entering insurance payments and patient responsibility, it is not usually the case but it does happen often enough. Patients do have the right to receive a clear explanation of their bill prior to making the payment.  

Another important area where Medical Receptionists and technology meet is in the area of automated confirmation calls.  These systems are usually quite reliable based on the preset settings of the office or facility.  In the event a patient reports they did not get a call or a message it is important for you to know where to look and see if there was a system error.  You just need to know where to find that information. You can also check what contact preferences are selected for the account and make sure they are correct.  You can usually see where calls and messages failed. This way you can address it properly with the patient and apologize if necessary. If it is a common or ongoing issue it can be addresses by management or with IT.  

Making it a habit to check electronic faxes for the office is also important.  We rely on technology in ways that don’t always allow for an instant confirmation.  Everyone in the office will usually have access to send faxes through the EMR system or other fax technology.  Checking the outbox from time to time during the day to check if any have failed can prevent calls the next day with duplicate requests.  You can resend or confirm the number and have it all sorted out on the same day.

It is imperative to embrace technology within the medical field as a receptionist.  The advances have created more user friendly environments, ease of access to records and billing information, learning opportunities, as well as additional ways to showcase or improve your skills.  Interacting with patients is still an important aspect of front desk work, even if you may have less paperwork at your finger tips, or less typing to do.  You are still responsible for the accuracy of entered data, monitoring and managing the patient flow, and communicating information to your patient population.  You will always have problems to solve at the front desk that can not only be resolved by technology, they will need your communication skills, your empathy, compassion, and intelligence.  Medical Receptionists are valuable members of any healthcare team.